When and Where I Found It: I heard this word in a conversation between two colleagues of mine. The word immediately stood out to me because it's such an "oldie but a goodie"! I haven't heard the word used in so long that I nearly forgot about it.
What it Means: According to dictionary.com query means:
noun
1. a question; an inquiry.
2. mental reservation; doubt.
3. Printing. a question mark (?), especially as added on a manuscript, proof sheet, or the like, indicating doubt as to some point in the text.
4. an inquiry from a writer to an editor of a magazine, newspaper, etc., regarding the acceptability of or interest in an idea for an article, news story, or the like: usually presented in the form of a letter that outlines or describes the projected piece.
verb
5. to ask or inquire about
6. to question as doubtful or obscure: to query a statement.
7. Printing. to mark with a query.
8. to ask questions of.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/query
Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with the word in that I have heard it before but because I rarely hear or use the word, it took me a minute to recall its meaning (although it did come to me). I more often hear and am more familiar with the term inquery rather than query.
Should I Know This Word? I think that being familiar with the word is good enough for me. I think that the term inquiry is more often used as a synonym and personally I think it flows better in writing and conversation than query.
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? Hmm this one's tough. I don't think it's a word that's crucial to know for most people although those who read higher level texts may see this word more often than someone who is reading middle or secondary school texts. I suppose it's best for the people who are completeing higher level readings to be familiar with this term so that it doesn't impede on their comprehension of the text. Other than that, it's nice to know to "snazz" up your oral and written expressions!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
8.1 Brainstorming
When and Where I Found It: This isn't my first encounter with this word but most recently I encountered it in Daniels, Zemelman, and Steineke's (2007) book Content-Area Writing. Throughout my schooling career I have been asked to brainstorm or have brainstormed on my own to get my thoughts and ideas together on a particular topic. Even in daily life I've brainstormed for many different reasons. Full Citation: Daniels, A., Zemelman, S., & Steineke, N. (2007). Content-area writing, every teacher's guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.
What The Word Means: According to dictionary.com, brainstorming means:
What The Word Means: According to dictionary.com, brainstorming means:
noun
1. a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.
1. a conference technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc., by unrestrained and spontaneous participation in discussion.
2. intensive discussion to solve problems or generate ideas
Level of Familiarity: As stated previously, I have a high level of familiarity with this term. When looking up the definition, one thing that supprised me is that brainstorming is considered a noun even though I always saw it as something one did rather rather than participated in. Hey! I guess you learn something new everyday! :)
Should I Know This Word? Absolutely! This word has been such a big part of my personal, professional and academic lives that it would be hard to imagine if I didn't know and use this word. As an educator, I think that I need to know this word well and practice it so that I can help my students to use this strategy in their academic and personal lives. As a future literacy specialist, I'm sure I will use the strategy to figure out professional problems and dilemas as well has help teachers and students use it in their classroom.
Should I Know This Word? Absolutely! This word has been such a big part of my personal, professional and academic lives that it would be hard to imagine if I didn't know and use this word. As an educator, I think that I need to know this word well and practice it so that I can help my students to use this strategy in their academic and personal lives. As a future literacy specialist, I'm sure I will use the strategy to figure out professional problems and dilemas as well has help teachers and students use it in their classroom.
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? I think that this is a great term to know no matter who you are because it is so useful in and aspect of your life! For example, as a person who participates in Christmas and birthdays, what can you get that special person?! This is when you brainstorm to come up with a list of ideas or possibilities. As a teacher, you can brainstorm the best way to help a struggling student. Literacy specialists use brainstorming also for the same reasons as anyone else would: to generate ideas and to solve problems!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
7.4 Zone of Proximal Development
When and Where I Found It: I recently saw this word in the Clark and Graves (2005) article that we had to read for session 7. I have heard this term several times before in my educational career.
Full Citation: Clark, K. F., & Graves, M. F. (2005). Scaffolding students’ comprehension of text. The Reading
Teacher, 58(6), 570-580.
Teacher, 58(6), 570-580.
What The Word Means: According to Clark and Graves (2005), this term was developed by Vygotsky who claimed that "every mental funstion in a child's development first appears in collaboration with an adult. The collaboration occurs in... the area between what children can do independently and what they can do with assistance" (p.571).
Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with this word. As stated above, I have come in contact with this word several times especially through the conversation of scaffolding.
Should I Know This Word? Yes! I am an educator and future literacy specialist and I think that a term that lays the ground work for an important concept like scaffolding is a must in my vocabulary!
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? Anyone in the education field should have a good understanding of this word. It is a concept that is the foundation for a practice that we are strongly encouraged to use in our classroom (scaffolding). If we understand this idea of ZPD and use it to guide instruction, we may better meet the needs of more students and provide more meaningful instruction.
7.2 Decoding
When and Where Did I Find This Word: I think that I first heard this word when I entered the Literacy program at Naz. Since then, I've heard it on nearly a weekly basis and most recently in our assigned reading of the Reading Handbook by Kamil, Mosenthal, Pearson, and Barr (2000).
Full Citation: Kamil, M. L., Mosenthal, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of reading research: Volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
What the Word Means: According to dictionary.com, the word decode has the following definitions:
1. to translate (data or a message) from a code into the original language or form.
2. to extract meaning from (spoken or written symbols).
3. Television. to unscramble (an electronic signal) so as to provide a video picture for cable subscribers.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/decoding
Level of Familiarity: I am very familiar with definition 1 and 2 from above but definition 3 never really crossed my mind. As I stated above, I come across the word a on a regular basis and have a good understanding of most of its meanings.
Should I Know This Word? Absolutley!!! As a future literacy specialist and as an educator I think that it is crucial to know this word. Decoding is an intricate part of the reading process and it is necessary to understand what it is and how it works in order to help students to read. Decoding can interfere with comprehension and other crucial aspects of reading and therefore knowing the term as well as strategies to help promote decoding proficiency in the classroom are crucial for any educator or literacy specialist.
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? I think that all educators and literacy specialists/coaches should know and understand this word for the reasons listed above.
7.1 Macropropositions
When and Where Did I Find It: I came across this word while reading Chapter 30 of our beloved Reading Handbook. This was the second time reading this chapter and I had the word circled from when it was assigned in LTED 600.
The sentence that I found this word in was the following:
"Sometimes unterstanding occurs from the bottom up with the reader procesing many individual ideas in text (and sometimes referred to as propositions) and how the ideas are related to one another by the text to construct a general understanding of the text's meaning, whith such summary meanings sometimes referred to as macropropositions." (p.549)
Formal Citation: Kamil, M. L., Mosenthal, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of reading research: Volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
What the Word Means: According to Kamil, Mosenthal, Pearson, and Barr (2000) macropropositions are the summary of meanings/ideas (propositions) that an individual processes while reading. Considering that propositions are the individual ideas behind text the macropropositions are more like topics (summary of ideas).
My Level of Familiarity: I must admit that this word and its meaning is completely unfamiliar to me. After looking it up, I know its basic meaning but I am still unsure of its overall concept.
Should I Know This Word? I think that it's a good word to understand and a concept that I as a future literacy specialist should be familiar with. Comprehension seems to be affected by this concept of combining propositions to create a topic of summary of propositions. This sounds confusing (and personally understanding this makes me feel pretty smart) but I think that at the base of this jibberish this word can play a crucial role in students' abilities to comprehend. Combining small ideas together to create one broad idea. I think that as a teacher I ask my students to do just the opposite by thinking of the small ideas and meanings that relate to a topic and it's important to understand this other concept of comprehension.
Do I Think Others Should Know This Word? Who and Why? I think that literacy specialists and reading teachers should know this word for the same reasons listed above. In my experience it's rare that teachers approach reading in this narrow to broad way and I feel as though it's something to be able to recommend to classroom teachers if necessary.
The sentence that I found this word in was the following:
"Sometimes unterstanding occurs from the bottom up with the reader procesing many individual ideas in text (and sometimes referred to as propositions) and how the ideas are related to one another by the text to construct a general understanding of the text's meaning, whith such summary meanings sometimes referred to as macropropositions." (p.549)
Formal Citation: Kamil, M. L., Mosenthal, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of reading research: Volume III. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
What the Word Means: According to Kamil, Mosenthal, Pearson, and Barr (2000) macropropositions are the summary of meanings/ideas (propositions) that an individual processes while reading. Considering that propositions are the individual ideas behind text the macropropositions are more like topics (summary of ideas).
My Level of Familiarity: I must admit that this word and its meaning is completely unfamiliar to me. After looking it up, I know its basic meaning but I am still unsure of its overall concept.
Should I Know This Word? I think that it's a good word to understand and a concept that I as a future literacy specialist should be familiar with. Comprehension seems to be affected by this concept of combining propositions to create a topic of summary of propositions. This sounds confusing (and personally understanding this makes me feel pretty smart) but I think that at the base of this jibberish this word can play a crucial role in students' abilities to comprehend. Combining small ideas together to create one broad idea. I think that as a teacher I ask my students to do just the opposite by thinking of the small ideas and meanings that relate to a topic and it's important to understand this other concept of comprehension.
Do I Think Others Should Know This Word? Who and Why? I think that literacy specialists and reading teachers should know this word for the same reasons listed above. In my experience it's rare that teachers approach reading in this narrow to broad way and I feel as though it's something to be able to recommend to classroom teachers if necessary.
Monday, October 10, 2011
6.2 Quartier
When and Where Did I Find The Word: I found the word while reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay.
Citation: Rosnay, A. D. (2007). Sarah's key. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin
What the Word Means: According to merriam-webster dictionary quartier is a district or neighborhood especially in a French city.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quartier
Your Level of Familiarity: This was the first time that I encountered this word. I think that my lack of familiarity with the word is due to the fact that it's a specialized French word.
Should I Know This Word?: Considering that it's a French word that I will probably not encounter again, I don't think it's a crucial word to know.
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? I don't think that others in the US need to know this word unless they are traveling to France. I think that this word is so rarely come across in popular American literature that it isn't a necessary word to know.
Citation: Rosnay, A. D. (2007). Sarah's key. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin
What the Word Means: According to merriam-webster dictionary quartier is a district or neighborhood especially in a French city.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quartier
Your Level of Familiarity: This was the first time that I encountered this word. I think that my lack of familiarity with the word is due to the fact that it's a specialized French word.
Should I Know This Word?: Considering that it's a French word that I will probably not encounter again, I don't think it's a crucial word to know.
Should Others Know This Word? Who and Why? I don't think that others in the US need to know this word unless they are traveling to France. I think that this word is so rarely come across in popular American literature that it isn't a necessary word to know.
6.1 Pilfer
When and Where Did I Find the Word: I first heard of this word in chapter 6 of our LTED 625 text, Content Area Writing Instruction.
Full citation: Daniels, H., Zemelman, S. & Steineke, N. (2007). Content-area writing: Every teacher's guide. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
What the Word Means: Accorning to dictionary.com, pilfer is a verb that means "to steal, especially in small quantities."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pilfer
Level of Familiarity: As stated above, this is my first encounter with this word and while reading, I had to stop and re-read the context that it was in to get an idea of what it meant.
Do I Want To Know This Word Well? I have survived many years without knowing this word and to be completely honest, the synonyms have served me just fine. I don't think it's a word that I need to know but it's one that I recognize when I come across it in the future.
Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well? Who and Why? For the same reasons listed above, I do not think that this word is something that needs to be in everyone's vocabulary. It's not something that we see very often in texts and I don't think that it's a term that is crucial to know and understand.
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